why does plastic deteriorate into microplastic. Why cant we break microplastic into just carbon chains?
In: Chemistry
Here’s my take on n the idea of why can’t we just break them down. The way you make different kinds of plastics is very much like weaving. There are very specific processes to create very specific plastics. In that sense, you could theoretically set up a very effective process to “unweave” the plastic back to its component elements.
Couple of challenges, though. There are a *lot* of different kinds of plastics out there. I mean, a **lot**. Different kinds will need different processes to unweave them. Even if there’s a lot of overlap, that will add an incredible amount of mechanical and chemical complexity.
Challenge the second: all those different plastics in the trash are mixed together. Before you can start to break them down, you have to get them sorted. That ends up being a logistical nightmare too.
So yeah, it’s messy.
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